Dark Shadows
by John Silver fan
Summary: My name is Severus Snape. Just when I thought I was going to die I was summoned through time,... to Hell. I was summoned to the future where Voldemort rules. Now, alongside a resistance, I must continue to fight him, only this time I must fight as I have never fought before. This time I must fight for the entire world, Wizard and Muggle. I must fight with nothing to lose.
1. Arrival

The pain was horrible, the shock nearly unbearable yet, at the same time, expected. I collapsed under Voldemort's attack. I knew I would die and closed my eyes. I suddenly felt a pull like that of a portkey, but I didn't open my eyes, even as I heard voices around me.

"It worked. It's him."

"He's hurt. Get him a potion."

Only once a potion phial was raised to my lips did I finally open my eyes to stare into all-too-familiar green eyes.

"Potter?"

Wait. This wasn't Harry. Though the boy looked like him, he had red streaks in his dark hair.

"Drink, Professor, it'll help."

I drank the potion and felt the wound on my neck heal. A young man who also resembled Potter but had brown eyes helped me to my feet.

"Scorp, take him to your grandfather."

A young man who resembled Draco motioned for me to follow him. Confused, I did so. After a few moments I realized I was inside Hogwarts. I followed Scorp to an old classroom, converted into a bedroom. Sitting in a chair was...

"Lucius?"

"So, they were successful."

It was indeed Lucius Malfoy, but decades older, horribly scarred, and recently blinded.

"Go inform Remus, Scorpious."

"Yes, Grandfather."

I staggered over to my friend.

"Lucius?"

He smiled slightly as I stared into his blind eyes.

"It's been so long since I've heard your voice, Severus."

"What... what's going on?"

"Harry failed to destroyed the Dark Lord. He now rules. Remus and I are the last of the Order ofPhoenix, even Harry fell in battle a few days ago. You no doubt encounter his sons when you arrived, James and Albus."

I nodded only to remember that he couldn't see the motion.

"Yes."

"You'll meet Lily soon, I'm sure. Sweet thing, Lily, just like her grandmother. Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering how you got here and why you're here."

"Just a little."

He chuckled, but it sounded dull.

"We need you, Severus. I can no longer fight, and Remus doesn't have much fight left him in. We need you to lead the resistance against the Dark Lord. I can't explain why it has to be you, that's just what the Time Magic demanded."

"Time Magic?"

He nodded.

"Yes. It's what brought you here. You have been brought thirty-three years into the future."

"_Thirty-three years_?!" I practically squeaked.

Lucius nodded again.

"We're desperate, old friend. If we weren't we would not have evoked the Time Magic to Summon you. It requires a sacrifice, thus the loss of my sight."

I was floored. Lucius gave up his sight to Summon me through time to help his resistance. I stared at the scars that marred his face.

"The sacrifice must be something cherished and requires blood. When we performed the ritual Remus had to slash my eyes."

I winced.

"I'm not sure who cried more, me or Remus."

"That's a horrible joke."

"Yes, I know, and it's also true."

I swallowed and slowly reached for his hand, calloused from time and fighting. His grip was strong and oddly comforting.

"The resistance needs you, Severus. You're our last hope. Please, old friend. Help us."

"All right."

He smiled, though it seemed almost as if it didn't belong on his face.

"Thank you."

"Severus?"

I turned to see an older and even more scarred Remus Lupin.

"Merlin, it really _is_ you!"

To my shock, he limped over and hugged me.

"Lupin?"

He let go and smiled, though it seemed almost strained, as though he hadn't smiled in a long time. Considering the situation he was in, that was probably true.

"He has agreed, Remus," Lucius said.

"Thank God."

Lucius allowed another, half-forced smile of his own to spread across his face before growing serious again.

"Send him out on the next raid."

"Raid?" I asked.

Remus and Lucius both nodded.

"Yes. We launch raids against You-Know-Who and his followers. You will find, old friend, this is a much more savage world than the one you were Summoned from. Remus, round up a group for the next raid. Include at least Seamus, Colin, and Dean along with the younger ones."

"Right. Come on, Severus."

I followed him out. Seamus Finnegan, Colin Creevey, and Dean Thomas had aged greatly. They were quite pleased to see me. Along with them, Remus gathered the two Potter boys, Albus and James, as well as Harry's daughter, Lily, Scorpious, and Hugo and Rose Weasley.

"Severus is in charge, but don't let him command what spells you use. Use what you must. Good luck, all of you."

Seamus Apparated me to the target site. Death Eaters were in plain sight. I counted thirty of them.

"Don't take any unneeded risks," I told them.

They all nodded. I gripped my wand tightly, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

"Now!"

We launched our attack, and my shock knew no bounds as Killing Curses flew not from the Death Eaters but from my group. I gaped at the others until an enemy Killing Curse sizzled past my head. I whirled on my attacker and reacted.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The Death Eater fell, and I nearly threw up when I realized I had just killed someone with an Unforgivable Curse.

"Oi, Professor, don't think about it!" Seamus cried to me.

He was right. I was quickly learning that here it really _was_ kill or be killed. I loosed curse after curse, felling Death Eater after Death Eater. Killing was surviving, living to fight another day. There was no other way, no matter how much someone might wish otherwise.

I don't know how many Death Eaters fell to my wand, but it seemed to last forever, though it was really only a few minutes. Luckily, no one from my group had been killed, and we returned to Hogwarts. Once back at the school, the sick feeling overwhelmed me. I gagged and threw up... all over Remus' boots. I coughed and looked up at him.

"Sorry, Remus."

"It's fine, Severus. You're not the first, and I doubt you'll be the last," he said kindly, conjuring a glass of water for me to rinse my mouth with.

Once I had done so I thanked him.

"You're welcome. Seamus, how'd it go?"

"Great, Remus. There were thirty. Snape here took out about six of them himself, though he looked a little green after the first one so I think he might have to- never mind," he finished, seeing Remus' vomit covered boots.

Remus cast a Cleaning Charm on them.

"No harm done."

He turned his attention back to me.

"Think you can eat something?"

"Not at the moment."

He nodded in understanding.

"Understandable. Come on. I'll show you to where you can stay."

I followed him to another former classroom, now bedroom with adjoining bathroom.

"You freshen up. Call a house elf for some new clothes and food when you're ready."

He started to leave.

"Remus."

He stopped and looked back at me.

"Does it ever... get easier?"

"Killing them?"

I nodded.

"No. It's never easy, Severus. After a while you do become... desensitized... to it, but it never gets easier to take a life, no matter how corrupted. It's what separates us from them."

He then left me alone. I ran a bath and soaked in the hot water, letting it soothe my sore muscles while my mind wandered. My life had been turned upside in a matter of a few hours, and I knew that this was only the beginning.


	2. You Are Here

**A/N: Finally an update!**

* * *

It was a week after my arrival that tragedy struck the resistance once more. I led another raid with Dean, Hugo, James, Albus, Scorpious, and Fred Weasley II. A Killing Curse felled Fred. I grabbed him and looked at the others.

"Fall back!" I shouted.

We all Apparated back to Hogwarts. As Remus and some others came over, I stared at Fred's body. Shock tingled somewhere in the back of my mind, but I mostly just felt... numb. It was as though I couldn't bring myself to feel anything, as though I had simply... shut down.

Was this what it was like when you have seen so many horrors and so many deaths that it just no longer affects you?

My mind processed what I saw, processed that the boy being carried away by Seamus and Dean was dead, but it was like no other part of me processed this information. All I could was stare numbly after them as they carried Fred away. I found myself wondering just how many times they had done this, how many bodies of friends and friends' children had they had to carry away.

A strong, firm, but gentle hand gripped my bicep, breaking me out of my revere, though not my numbness, turned me around, and began to lead me away. I followed obediently, not paying attention to where we were going, nor did I really care, so long as it far away from poor Fred.

We walked for several minutes before I thought to look to see who was leading me. I looked over to see that it was Remus. His scarred, aged face was grim. He didn't say anything or even look at me. Before I could even begin to think of what to say, we stopped at a door. Remus opened it, and I saw that it let out on a terrace. He led me out onto it, and what I saw floored me.

From the terrace I could see the castle grounds, which, being magically linked to the school, had been moved with it when the castle had been moved for safety. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of graves littered the grounds. I could see two figures, probably Seamus and Dean, digging a new grave for Fred. The sight finally sent it all home.

The dam broke. Tears flowed down my face, sobs tore from my throat, and my legs gave out under me, causing me to fall to my knees. I don't know how long I knelt there, crying as I hadn't cried since Lily's death, feeling like the tears and sobs would never stop. I felt someone kneel beside me, a hand rested comfortingly on my shoulder, and I looked back to see it was Remus. His face was soft with kindness and understanding, and his gray eyes were shadowed with sorrow. He wordlessly offered me a handkerchief, which I took gratefully and mopped my face as the crying finally stopped, save for a few stray tears.

"Now you see. Now you know the prices paid, the sacrifices made, and the risks taken. Now you understand why we were desperate enough to evoke the Time Magic to Summon you."

I nodded, wiping away another tear, sniffling.

"I... feel like I failed."

"Because of Fred."

It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway.

"Severus, raids won't always be successful, and not everyone who goes out on one will come back alive. Everyone here knows this, and we're all willing to take that risk if it means bringing You-Know-Who down for good."

I nodded again, having nothing to say aloud to that.

"Are you hungry, or do you want to go back to your quarters?"

I thought for a moment.

"I think... I think I'd like to talk to Lucius for a while."

Remus smiled slightly, and even that tiny smile looked mostly forced, though, again, it probably was.

"All right. Follow me."

I followed Remus back through the castle to Lucius' room. Remus knocked.

"Enter."

We went in. Lucius was sitting in a chair by a fire.

"Severus wants to talk to you, Lucius."

"Very well. You can go, Remus."

Remus left with one last forced smile to me.

"Come sit down, Severus."

I went over and sat in the chair across from Lucius. Now that I was there I suddenly had no idea what to say. All the questions I had had when I first arrived flew around in my head. I finally had the chance to ask them yet I couldn't even think of how to start.

"Why me?" I suddenly blurted.

Lucius smiled, the same kind of strained, forced smile Remus had given me, his sightless eyes turning in my direction.

"As I told you when you arrived, the Time Magic demanded it be you. I can't explain it."

I groped for another question.

"Why you?"

Okay, apparently the only kind of questions that are going to come out of my mouth are stupid ones. Open mouth, insert foot.

However Lucius didn't need me to clarify my question.

"Because I am the oldest. I refused to let anyone else make the sacrifice, since it must be the loss of something cherished or precious. Sight is indeed a precious thing, Severus."

"But why not give up a hand or finger?"

Again he smiled that strained, forced smile. It really was much more of a grimace, especially considering the scars on his face.

"It's not the same to lose a finger or a hand. If you lose a finger or a few you have others. If you lose a hand you have one more. However, if you lose your sight, you have no other way to see."

There was silence for a moment, save the popping and crackling of the fire.

"I will not claim to be an expert on Time Magic, Severus," Lucius said suddenly.

I looked at him but said nothing, sensing there was more to come.

"However, I _do_ know that Time Magic is an ancient magic, quite possibly older than Merlin himself, who discovered it. As such, it abides by ancient laws lost centuries ago, laws that govern how it works, who it chooses. It choose you. You were the only one it saw as worthy."

"Worthy? What am I worthy of besides death?"

Lucius shot to his feet, his scared face twisted with anger.

"Do not make such claims!" he bellowed.

I shrank back in my chair, for the first time truly afraid of my old friend. As if sensing my fear, Lucius relaxed a little and sat back down.

"No one but You-Know-Who deserves death, Severus. You were most likely worthy because of the sacrifices you made in your own time, though I do not know for sure. However, you were chosen, and you are here."

* * *

**End Note: Okay, pretty depressing chapter, but the stakes have finally hit home completely for Severus.**


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